Around July 8, 1909

In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...

In the early 1900s, child labor was common. Lewis Hine dedicated himself to photographing children at work around the country. As a photographer for the National Child Labor Committee, he believed that his images would draw attention to the plight of children and lead Americans to press for an end to child labor. The National Child Labor Committee was composed of politicians and citizens who were...

In the early twentieth century, the neighborhood of Delray in southwest Detroit was beginning to become a dynamic industrial hub, with companies such as Swift Franklin Salt Block, Detroit City Glass Works, and Sutton Pail Factory, among many others, setting up large factories that overshadowed the nearby residential neighborhoods. As the area became more heavily industrial, the demand for workers...

When the sheriff told Frank Akey that the whiskey bottle he had confiscated the night before was now at the bottom of the River Rogue, Akey promptly ran into the town and let everyone know. According to the sheriff, every bottle confiscated when drunken men were held in the station was now at the bottom of the river. This now-public knowledge was met with unrest, and an apparent intention to fish...

Emma Goldman was a political advocate for absolute freedom for everyone. Her article “A New Declaration of Independence” published July 1909 in Mother Earth, reminds readers that all humans were created equal. She also informs readers that “when…existing institutions prove inadequate to the needs of man…the people have the eternal right to rebel against, and overthrow, these...

In the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, doctors had discovered that large numbers of deaths in industrial cities were the result of tuberculosis, a respiratory disease closely linked to poverty, overcrowding, and malnutrition. Middle-class fears that tuberculosis could spread resulted in significant expenditures in Detroit, but that money largely ignored the problems...

In 1909, the surgery bed was revolutionized, changing surgery and hospital care forever. Right at the turn of the century, Dr. Willis D. Gatch, an Indiana University graduate of 1901 and then Resident Assistant Surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital, published his work on his modern surgery bed. Later called the Gatch Bed, it solved a great deal of issues in several areas of patient care. Originally...

Pollution was once held to be a sign of urban success. Smoke stacks were seen as technologically advanced; heavy industry signified the possibility of jobs. This paradigm pervaded Detroit in the early 20th century, and the people of Hamtramck, an independent township in the center of the city, were overjoyed when they were hit by an industrial boom. The sentiments of the people...

After the Civil War Florida became a beacon for people from other stated to change environments from the cold north to the almost year long tropical climate of Florida. Mainly towards the 1890's Florida experienced a rapid increase in population, due to people migrating down south. Many of the people that decided to migrate down were white New Englanders and colored people, many of whom were former...

Across West Jefferson Avenue in Delray lies the mysterious Zug Island. On Google Maps, it is a dark mass of land covered with heavy industry factories and black smog. In person, one can only view Zug Island from afar. The privately owned island is off limits to the public and there is little known about what occurs on the island. In contrast to Zug Island’s hazy present, the island had much more...